


running out of clock.

by aceface



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-28
Updated: 2010-12-28
Packaged: 2017-10-14 04:43:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/145504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aceface/pseuds/aceface
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sixthform/highschool AU. "Surprisingly, Louis's the first one of Liam's friends to arrive, seemingly oblivious to the way some of the girls stop their conversations to stare at him. Instead, he grins at Liam and throws his bag on the table, flinging himself across a chair."</p>
            </blockquote>





	running out of clock.

Liam's always the first one in the common room. Not the first one  _ever_ , because that would probably be a bit sad, not to mention over-eager, but just the first one out of their group of friends. Although he can't help thinking that if he was the first one in he'd at least get some work done. How much earlier would he have to set off? But no, that would be stupid -- he gets a good five minutes on his own at least; more, if Zayn's late (usually because of his sisters). Enough time to make sure he's got his homework, books, sometimes enough time to do a bit of revision if they've got a test that day. Zayn appreciates it as well -- "I'd never get anything done if it wasn't for you, mate," he says, clapping Liam on the back and grinning.

There's hardly anyone else in when Liam arrives today, just three Year 13 girls he doesn't know, who barely glance at him before going back to their conversation. It means he manages to get a table, and spreads his bag out over the seats in order to save them (not that anyone else would sit there anyway, usually, but sometimes the Year 12 girls try). He doesn't have any work to do, which is good, but Louis and Harry won't have done their History homework, so Liam gets it out anyway in readiness. He digs through his bag and finds a copy of some war poetry that they have to study for English Lit. It's a bit sad that he always sits reading schoolwork, but he can never be arsed to buy a copy of NME or whatever in town and besides, it's got to be done at some point and it's not like he's got anything better til everyone else shows up.

Surprisingly, Louis's the first one of Liam's friends to arrive, seemingly oblivious to the way some of the girls stop their conversations to stare at him. Instead, he grins at Liam and throws his bag on the table, flinging himself across a chair. 

"Your tie's undone," Liam observes, pushing his History homework across the table to Louis, who just smiles wider.

"I've already done it!"

"Done... your tie?" Liam asks, not quite following the conversation. "Only I'm sure you have, but it's come undone. Again."

Louis rolls his eyes, tugging his tie off altogether and wrapping it around one of his hands. "No, you idiot, I've done my History homework already. Did it last night."

"Oh." Liam can't help wondering if it would be insulting to ask Louis  _why_ , exactly -- he never usually does it, and it's not like Liam minds letting the others copy off him. "Okay, well." He doesn't actually have anything to follow that up with, so he nods at Louis's tie instead. "You know you're going to get in trouble if Wade sees you without that."

"I'm going to wear it  _unconventionally_ ," Louis announces, tipping his chair back on two legs in the most maddening way possible. Liam itches with the urge to kick out and knock him off it, but he's too sensible and knowing his luck, Louis would probably end up breaking his head open or something and then everyone would always know Liam as That Guy Who Broke Louis Tomlinson's Head. He's not known at all at the moment, apart from maybe as one of the other boys' friend, but that's still preferable than being That Guy Who Broke Louis Tomlinson's Head. Liam kind of  _likes_  his anonymity.

Zayn ends up kicking the back of Louis's chair instead, on his way past, and Louis tips forward onto his feet. "I'm being Rambo," he tells Zayn, smiling widely, and Liam resists the urge to roll his eyes as Zayn slips into the seat next to him.

"Cheer up," he says, tipping his own chair back in order to put his feet up on the table. "It's not the weirdest thing Louis's done. It's not even the weirdest thing he's done this week."

Liam blinks at him. "It's  _Monday_."

"Yeah, but apparently he was eating carrots on the bus and you know what that's like. I had Geneva texting me, asking me if he was right in the head."

"You'd think she'd be used to him by now," Liam says, watching as Louis attempts to wrap his tie around his head like a bandanna. "It's been two years."

"I don't think anyone ever gets used to him," Zayn says, laughing, as Louis flings himself across the table at them with a cry of "RAMBOOOO!" 

"I certainly haven't," Liam mutters. He doesn't think he ever really will.

-

History is the one thing that Liam has with both Harry and Louis, and the only reason that Harry takes it is because his parents insisted he had to study at least one "proper" subject. Harry spends half his time in the lesson chatting up the girls next to him, and the other half trying to flirt subtlely with their teacher, Miss Cole. She's very young and very pretty and she doesn't quite seem to know how to take Harry -- the girls just giggle and flirt back even more outrageously, but Harry's very careful mix of wide eyed innocence and a cheeky grin throws her off, and she seems to alternate between treating him with a sort of amused confusion and just losing patience altogether.

Which is all well and good for Harry, but it makes it very difficult to actually learn anything. Liam usually just helps himself to a worksheet at the beginning of the class and spends the rest of his time basically teaching himself out of the textbook.

"You're late," Louis calls, when Harry strolls in ten minutes late, and is rewarded with a cheeky smile for his trouble. "Alright, our Harry?"

"Settle down," Miss Cole says, but she seems to be in a good mood today and Liam's already resigned himself to not getting much further with his A-level preparation.

Harry sits behind them, looking very busy and studious, but Miss Cole has to run out to photocopy more worksheets and Liam only gets to five in the internal count in his head before Louis swivels around in his seat and taps his pencil on Harry's paper.

"So how far did you get? 'Cause you were obviously late because you were with Amanda, right?"

Harry widens his eyes, looking like the most innocent boy in the world, and if Liam didn't know better he'd almost believe him. "I don't share details about my personal life."

Liam's curiosity gets the better of him and he turns around in his seat, ignoring Louis's obnoxious laughter right in his ear. "So you got your hands under her jumper, then?"

Harry glances at Louis, who's almost vibrating in his seat with excitement, and back at Liam. Liam would usually carry on trying to get Harry to share details of however far he got with whoever his latest girl is, but right now he can't bring himself to care. It's sad how much he knows about all of their personal lives already, apart from Louis, and for all that Louis is apparently bi, he never seems to show interest in anyone apart from girls. And okay, Louis  _is_  bi and Liam's just being a wanker by questioning it, even in his head, when really he's just a bit pissed off that Louis's not interested in  _him_.

It's stupid and Liam  _feels_  stupid but he still can't make himself show an interest in Amanda's stupid bra, so he just smiles half-heartedly at Harry and turns back around. It's not like he doesn't need to revise the Kaisers and Tsars, anyway.

-

Zayn comes over on Wednesday after Liam's finished his homework. He got most of it done in the free morning, anyway, but he just wanted to read over it and make a few corrections. He's not a total loser or anything, he just wants to do well. And ideally, yeah, he'd like to be a singer, but while he's not getting anywhere with that then it just makes sense for him to have a back-up plan. And besides, Liam's never been one to do anything half-arsed. 

"Harry's got a gig on Saturday," Zayn says, after he's finished doing his Physics homework. Liam doesn't mind; it gave him the chance to fuck around on Facebook for a little while and Zayn can never get anything done at home, his house is so noisy. Liam likes it, sometimes; it's nice to be part of a big crowd in the same reason that he likes hanging out with all of the boys at school, but he doesn't blame Zayn for wanting a little peace and quiet and it is impossible for him to get any work done at home.

"Oh." Liam considers this. Harry's band is pretty good, actually, and Harry's not a bad singer. Plus, he gets them all in for free, which obviously means more money to spend on drinks. "Are we off, then?"

Zayn shrugs, closing his textbook and flopping back on the bed. "Might as well. There's nowt else to do, after all. Can't wait to get to uni and actually have more than one place to hang out in the whole city."

"We do alright for house parties," Liam protests. He's not usually this defensive -- Zayn's right, it  _is_  a bit shit here -- but he doesn't like to think about uni at the moment, even though it is the endgame, the thing he's constantly working towards. It's weird because, for the past few years, he's actually been  _happy_. He likes his life at the moment and it's way too scary to think about it all changing, especially when he's not even a hundred per cent sure what he wants to study or where he even wants to go. Especially when he's going to have to figure that out pretty soon in the next few months.

Zayn seems to sense this -- there's a reason why he's Liam's best friend, after all -- and changes the subject. "So you and Louis have been pretty close lately." It's not necessarily a subject that Liam finds preferable.

"I haven't noticed," Liam says, in what is clearly a blatant lie, and Zayn grins at him.

"You so have, mate. You still in love with him, yeah?"

" _What are you talking about_ ," Liam says desperately and Zayn's grin only widens. It's so unfair. Zayn's been going out with Geneva for a year and a half, so there's not even anything they can make fun of him for anymore. Liam misses the times when Zayn would turn bright red and stammer around Gen. It was so much more fun back then. 

"You did tell me when you were drunk," Zayn reminds him, like he does every time he brings the subject up. Like Liam doesn't remember, as much as he wishes he didn't. "'Ohhh, Zayn, Louis is so perfect and funny but he'd never like me back, oh, my poor little emo angst'," he wails. It is, in Liam's opinion, a poor imitation of his voice.

"I didn't say that," he says, with as much dignity as he can, then rests his head on his arms. "I totally said that, didn't I."

"Not in so many words but yes, you basically said that," Zayn agrees. "It was cute. You're an adorable drunk."

"I am so glad he wasn't there," Liam says fervently, from where his words are still muffled by his arms. "So glad you didn't let me call him, either."

"Sometimes I think I should've. It'd save us all this messing about."

"Because I could've got the humiliation out of my system much earlier on," Liam says and Zayn laughs, reaching over to mess up his hair.

"You're really stupid sometimes, you know that?"

"And which one of us got an A* on their test," Liam says, but he knows even as he's saying it that it isn't what Zayn's talking about.

Still, Zayn doesn't call him on it, instead he just chucks an Xbox controller at Liam's head and says, "Whatever. Ready to get your arse kicked at Fifa?"

-

Louis texts him halfway through Philosophy. Liam's got his phone on silent, he's not stupid, but it still lights up and flashes from where it's hidden in his pocket and he's never been good at ignoring it. 

 _i am bored_  the text informs him, all lower case, but at least it's spelled correctly. 

Liam texts back,  _f your life?_  under the table. He's terrible at being discreet, but Miss Minogue never seems to pay all that much attention anyway, too busy extolling the virtues of Nietzsche.

 _f urs_  Louis sends back a few minutes later. Liam does a quick bit of mental working out and figures out that Louis's in Media Studies now, the only subject he has without Liam. It's a bit of a joke -- at least at their school -- and Harry takes it as well. Usually at least one of them ends up with a dick drawn somewhere on their body. It's never as hilarious in the retelling, either. 

 _isnt harry there?_  Liam sends, and puts his pen down to properly be able to text, giving up on taking notes. Esther's sat next to him and she sends him a wry grin.

"So Minogue's finally beaten you down as well?" she whispers. "I thought you were a robot."

Liam frowns, torn between her and trying to decipher Louis's latest text ( _y he is bt th thing is tht idt im his pririty ykwim?_ ). "What?"

"Usually you're the only one who actually manages to pay attention," she says, and shrugs. "It's a little nice to see that you're actually human."

"Oh, right," Liam says ( _ive told you before; you cant make up yr own acronyms, thats not how life works_ ). "Yeah, I just. You usually look like you're paying attention."

Esther laughs and says, "It's an art." 

 _i can do anything i watn. better?_

He realises too late that Esther's said something and glances over at her. "Uh, sorry, I didn't catch that."

She shakes her head, but there's a smile playing around the corners of her mouth and she nods at his phone. "Someone important?" Liam doesn't say anything and Esther's smile grows. "Only I'm thinking he must be. You know, if you're ignoring the teacher and if your smile's anything to go by." She bites her lip. "Sorry, was that too -- I shouldn't have said that."

"No, it's fine," Liam says, because he can be distant but he's not a total wanker. "Um, he's. It's no one, really." She looks at him, disbelieving, but doesn't say anything else.

Liam texts Louis,  _of course you can_ , and resolutely stares at the board for the rest of the lesson.

-

Liam  _likes_  English Language, but he realised a long time ago that he wasn't going to get anywhere in any of the lessons he has with Louis. Even if Louis is aiming his distractions at someone who isn't Liam, it's not like Liam can manage to not pay attention to him. If Liam doesn't get into a decent uni after all of this -- and for fuck's sake, he's even taking an extra A-level -- then it's entirely Louis's fault, even if Liam probably won't blame him. He'll just go out and get really drunk and work in Tesco's, he thinks grumpily, noting down Chomsky's theory of child language acquisition and pretending not to notice that Liam has decided to wear his tie like a blindfold.

"Louis, can you read from the board, please," Mr Walsh says. He's somehow managing to actually not pay attention, not just pretend not to like Liam's having to do, and Liam's mildly impressed at Mr Walsh's powers of obliviousness. 

Louis, of course, doesn't take off his tie-blindfold. He also doesn't let a little thing like that stop him from reading from the board like Mr Walsh asked, in the most obviously fake American accent ever. Sadly, it's not even the first time that Liam's heard it. "Alright, folks! So there was a little guy you mighta heard of, we called him Noam, Noam Chomsky--"

" _Louis_ ," Mr Walsh says tiredly. "We've been through this. You're a bright boy, I don't know why you keep messing it up for yourself."

Louis just stares in the complete opposite direction from Mr Walsh, and nods enthusiastically. Mr Walsh sighs. "Sophia, if you could take over."

Louis leans back in his seat and folds his arms across his chest, lower lip jutting out slightly. Liam reaches over without thinking, to awkwardly pat Louis's arm or something -- he's not sure what -- but Louis must be able to see more through the tie than he's letting on, because he grabs Liam's hand and squeezes it, grinning at him. It's weird, because Liam can't quite tell if Louis's looking at him or not, and he stares straight ahead to ignore the weird blank stare from the blindfold. 

Louis keeps hold of Liam's hand all the way through the lesson and it sucks. Mainly it sucks because Liam actually needs his right hand and he's struggling to take notes only using his left but it also sucks because, in spite of all this, he can't quite bring himself to let go.

-

"Hey." Louis bumps Liam's shoulder with his own, grinning at him, and Liam can't help wondering if Louis actually  _is_  oblivious to the year 12 girls sat a few rows in front of them, giggling behind their hands and flicking their hair about every chance they get in a bid to attract Louis's attention. "D'you want to go for a coffee or something?"

Liam can't help remembering the last time he went for coffee with Louis; Louis had, for some unknown reason, insisted on an espresso and Liam had spent the rest of the day picking up various items that Louis had knocked over in shops and apologising. It hadn't been the best day, exactly, although he does remember it fondly. (Mainly because of when they'd been waiting at the bus stop -- Louis had flung his arms around Liam, kissed him loudly and messily on the cheek and said "I'm glad you're my friend, Liam, no, really I am, do you know that?" He'd still been shaking from the caffeine, but it had been nice.)

"Um," Liam says, to try and kill some time before he has to answer, and Louis's face falls. It would almost be comical if it wasn't so sad -- Louis doesn't look as though someone kicked his puppy, more like he  _actually is_  a kicked puppy -- and Liam wishes for the millionth time that he wasn't at least half in love with him. The others never seem to have any problem saying no to Louis. Of course, that's usually because they've got a good reason to -- Zayn does football and Harry has White Eskimo and Niall always seems to have something or other to do, but Liam doesn't really do anything except hang out with the boys and do his homework, and for some reason homework is never accepted as a legitimate excuse.

"Liiiiiam," Louis whines, drawing Liam's name out for as long as possible, and Liam sighs and gives in, like he always knew he would and he doesn't really know why he tries to pretend otherwise.

"Decaf," he says firmly. Louis smiles brilliantly at him, and leans forward to press the bell. He also falls over on their way down the stairs, which Liam doesn't pass up the opportunity to mock him for. Louis looks slightly disgruntled as they get off the bus, in the same way he always does when he does something inadvertently hilarious; like he can't quite decide whether to be pissed off at everyone for making fun of him or whether he should take all the credit and pretend like he totally meant to do that. Liam always finds it just as hilarious watching Louis try to decide.

It's a Friday afternoon though and Louis is always in a good mood when they get to leave school early, so he just tosses a smile over his shoulder at Liam and steps off the bus more carefully than he usually would. "Shall we go to Starbucks?"

It's a concession; Louis loves Costa Coffee for reasons that Liam isn't sure of. He isn't sure exactly why Louis isn't demanding to go there now, but he isn't going to pass up the opportunity for a Starbucks so he says, "Um, sure." 

It's only when they're sat across from each other in Starbucks -- Liam with his hands wrapped around a Chai Latte and Louis with one of those Frappuccino Blended Crème things, as Liam didn't even want to risk a chance of caffeine -- that Louis subsides. Liam likes moments like this, as much as he enjoys Louis's craziness, when it's just the two of them and Louis actually means what he says.

"Do you think Harry will ever get a girlfriend, then?"

It's out of the blue, but Liam's used to it. "Maybe." He takes a sip of his latte, feeling it right down to his feet. "I don't think so, though. It's not really his thing at the minute, is it?"

"What about Niall?"

"What about him?" Liam can feel himself starting to smile, even if he doesn't know why. "What's with the sudden interest in everyone's lovelives?"

"I dunno." Louis shrugs, stirring his straw around the weird concoction. "I was just thinking how Zayn and Geneva have been together for ages. It's a bit weird, don't you think? At this age?"

Liam feels like this is some kind of test, but he can't figure out what for. He can't figure out what he's supposed to say, either, so he goes for honesty and hopes it works. "I suppose, if you meet the right person..." Louis's still watching him and Liam makes a face. "I don't know, I'm shit with this sort of thing. If you meet someone you like enough, you go out with him. If it doesn't work, you stop. That's how it works, isn't it? Harry just hasn't met anyone he likes enough. Besides, you know he's a twat when it comes to girls."

Louis stares at him for a while longer, widening his eyes enough to be creepy before getting bored and blinking. "I reckon so. We should still get Niall someone though, boy's going mental." Liam's about to comment on it, but Louis reaches for the sugar packets and starts ripping them open and pouring the sugar out on the table, drawing patterns on the table.

It's not long before they get asked to leave. Liam mentally crosses Starbucks off his list of places in town that Louis still hasn't got them kicked out of, but Louis looks so happy that it's worth it.

-

The Kings' Arms is pretty much the only pub that they ever go to, and it's also the only pub that the entirety of their sixthform seems to go to. This is for one simple reason; they don't ID. It's pretty much the only place in town that  _doesn't_ , and Liam can't wait for Harry to hurry up and turn eighteen already so they can go somewhere without screaming year 12 kids tasting their first sip of beer and pretending they're drunk.

He says as much to Zayn, who sips his lemonade and smiles. "I'm guessing you don't remember your first time here, then."

"It's a  _rite of passage_ ," Liam says loftily, drinking his own beer and trying not to look at where Louis is leaning over the bar and trying to sweet talk the barmaid into -- Liam doesn't know what, and doesn't really  _want_  to know what. "You have to get wasted your first time so you can then feel superior to everyone else who does it."

"Circle of life," Niall agrees solemnly, and Liam clinks his bottle against Niall's. 

"Exactly."

"So that's why you threw up on your shoes then," Zayn nods, as though it all makes sense to him now. "I see. Very clever of you, mate."

"You don't drink, you wouldn't understand," Liam says and Zayn's smile widens.

"You mean, the fact that I never went up to Esther and told her that -- what was it, something about if you were straight --"

"Shut up," Liam grumbles, because that's a coming out story that he really wishes he doesn't have. 

There's a clinking noise as Louis sets down a tray of shots in front of them, beaming like he's just won the lottery. "What are we talking about?"

"The first time Liam got pissed," Zayn says helpfully, and Liam shoots him a glare.

"I love this story!" Louis says brightly, and Liam kicks him under the table.

"You weren't even there."

"And that is a decision I regret every day of my life," Louis says, and the sad part is that he actually sounds sincere. "I think my favourite bit was when you got the pint glass -- I'm telling this right, aren't I -- and you put it on --"

"Why don't we talk about the first time  _you_  got drunk?" Liam says hastily, but Louis's not actually all that different when he's drunk. He has enough embarrassing stories from being sober, and he's basically just the same but louder and brighter and more affectionate.

A riot of feedback startles them, and Niall starts laughing. "Great start there for our Harry."

Louis drains his drink then stands up, resting a hand on Liam's shoulder while Liam tenses and then immediately tries to relax. It's more difficult than he likes. "You want to go stand up?"

"Um." Liam isn't sure if the invitation is directed specifically at him or at the table in general, but he finishes his drink anyway and grabs his bag. "Sure." He glances at Zayn, wondering if he can accurately convey  _what's going on now please help me_  with his eyes. "You coming?"

"Nah, mate, I'm good right here," Zayn says, smiling in a way that suggests he understood Liam's eye-message perfectly and is just choosing to ignore it. "Gen'll be along in a bit anyway."

"Niall?" Liam says, a little desperately, but Louis grabs his hand and says, "They're clearly boring, we're better off without them." There's nothing Liam can really say to that, so he just allows himself to be dragged along by Louis until they're a little to the side of the slight raised platform generously referred to as the stage. Louis still hasn't let go of Liam's hand, and Liam is trying very hard not to think about it. Instead, he wills himself to relax and glances at Louis out of the corner of his eye. It's subtle, Liam can totally do subtle.

"Hey." Louis nods at the crowd in front of the stage, looking a little confused. "There are more girls than usual, right?"

"It's Harry's band," Liam reminds him, and Louis's mouth drops open. "White Eskimo, remember?"

"Oh, right. That's tonight!"

"Are you  _really_ \--" Liam starts, but Louis smiles so disarmingly that he doesn't bother to finish his sentence. He'll probably never know, anyway; he's thought sometimes that maybe Louis's... specialness, so to speak, is just an act, but it'd be a really tiring one to keep up all the time. He thinks, really, that Louis is just like that. He probably shouldn't find it as endearing as he does.

-

"We never did those shots," Louis says, after it's over and Harry is surrounded by a crowd of girls and doing his best to seem overwhelmed and confused by all the attention. This is usually where Louis goes over to him, slings an arm around his neck and flirts outrageously. They're good together, Harry and Louis; they play off each other and the girls love it, but Louis is still doggedly hanging onto Liam's hand and Liam doesn't quite know what to make of it.

Liam's problem is thinking too much and alcohol doesn't manage to shut that off but it  _does_  manage to make it easier, so he pushes his problems away (it's not like he hasn't thought about Louis enough, after all) and curls his mouth up into a smile. It feels stupid and forced but Louis's answering grin is real enough for both of them and Liam can even manage to speak normally. "You're right, we didn't. I bet Gen and Niall have finished them off by now, though."

"I doubt it, the pussies," Louis says, pushing through the crowd back to their table. "Well, I bet Gen could actually, but Niall doesn't drink anything apart from beer."

"What are those shots actually  _of_?" Liam asks cautiously, but Louis either doesn't hear him or doesn't want to answer because they end up back at the table (Louis rests his elbows on it and Liam resists the urge to slap them away because the table is disgusting and sticky and  _who knows_  what's been spilled on it) and the shots are, depending on how you look at it, fortunately still there.

"Alright, Liam, my lad, this is the night where you become a  _man_ ," Louis says triumphantly, pushing one of the shots across the table. Liam can feel Niall sniggering next to him and wishes Niall would fuck off somewhere like Zayn and Geneva already have, because he can tell this is probably going to be a messy night and there's already nothing he can do about it. "I want to recreate the first time you got drunk."

"Well,  _that's_  not going to happen," Liam says, but dutifully raises his glass and knocks back the first shot. It burns a little going down but nowhere near as bad as he could've expected and it's definitely not straight vodka, which is the only thing that would make him immediately throw up. "How about you just get drunk on your own and I'll let you know what happened tomorrow?"

"Liam, we are a  _team_ ," Louis replies, in that overly-serious American voice he uses when trying to be as ridiculous as possible, and Liam can feel himself smiling in spite of himself. Niall is, predictably, cracking up next to him. "Your mission tonight, should you choose to accept it, is to drink as many shots as possible. Do you accept this challenge?"

"Yes," Liam says, because what else can he say, really, and Louis beams at him.

-

It only seems like a few minutes later but it can't be, because the pub's started to sway and Liam can't remember what happened to the shots. At some point during the night they all got up on the stage and all Liam can see at the moment are flashing lights and Louis and Harry dirty dancing and Liam thinks that maybe this is what an epileptic fit would feel like. Although he's willing to concede there is less dirty dancing during a fit, and from the way Niall's laughing it's entirely possible that he may have said some of this out loud (although how Niall would be able to hear him over the blaring sounds of 'Standing in the Way of Control', Liam has no idea).

Louis pulls Niall towards him, tipping his head back and laughing as Niall attempts to do a shimmy with his hips, and Harry puts his hands on Liam's shoulders and pouts at him. Liam loves feeling like this, relaxed and easy, and he's drunk enough that it's easy to dance with Harry, going along with him as Harry gets more and more outrageous, pushing his tongue into his cheek and winking at Liam. He vaguely hears Zayn laughing behind him, from where he's slow dancing with Geneva (to a fast song as well, it's sickening! Sickening and wrong!) but it doesn't register fully, and Harry's warm and smiling at him mischievously.

"You have bad ideas," he starts to say to Harry, because he doesn't know what Harry's doing but he's willing to bet it'll end badly (and possibly with a phone call home to Liam's parents, just like it did the last time that Liam went along with him), but Louis puts a hand on Harry's shoulder and smiles at him. His smile's as bright as ever but there's something brittle about it, something that just makes Harry laugh even more and say, "It's alright, I'm not going to keep him."

Louis says, "I'll keep  _you_ ," but he looks relieved when Harry moves out of the way, holding his hands up as he does so. Liam stops dancing, which is probably a good thing, and smiles at Louis. "Hi."

"Hi," Louis says, and his smile turns into something real. "Mate, I'm boiling, d'you want to go outside?"

Liam's not sure if he says anything but either way, he's outside before he realises. He's drunk enough that he knows it's cold but can't quite feel it -- "Wearing your beer jacket," Louis says, laughing -- but he can definitely feel the warmth from Louis's skin and it's easier than it should be to lean against him, feeling the heat bleed through Louis's thin tshirt.

He glances up at Louis, intending to say something -- he has no idea what -- and somehow, one way or another, he ends up kissing him. Liam can't quite tell if it was him who started it or Louis but it doesn't really matter that much, because Louis's definitely as into it as Liam is, and he stumbles back against the wall. Liam can tell his elbows will be scraped tomorrow but he's more interested in the strip of skin he can see where Louis's tshirt is riding up and he brushes his hand across it, watching intently as Louis shudders and bites his lip.

"Liam," he stutters, pushing back against him and curling a hand around the back of his neck and Liam's never heard anything better than the sound of his name in Louis's voice.

He doesn't remember how he gets home that night, but he remembers the taste of Louis's mouth against his own all weekend.

-

"It's alright," Louis says the next morning, and Liam blinks at him. It's first thing on a Monday morning and Liam had, for the first time ever, forgotten to do his History homework. It's Louis's fault, kind of, but he was just in such a good mood that he completely lost that irritating feeling which usually doesn't leave him alone until he's sat down at his desk with his books out. Anyway, the point to this is that Liam had to get up about an hour earlier than usual to get his homework done and now he's all bleary and sleepy and can't think properly, so he doesn't really understand exactly what Louis is talking about.

Louis's still looking at him, waiting for an answer. He's quieter than usual and Liam can't help wondering if he's done something wrong. "What's alright?" he says, too tired to be anything other than blunt.

"You know, us. We are. We're alright," Louis says, which isn't really very helpful. Liam's clearly still looking blank, because Louis scoots his chair nearer and lowers his voice. " _I won't ruin your chances with the girl._  Who you like."

"You're not a girl," Liam says stupidly. "I like  _you_."

Louis sits back, looking a little confused, and Liam is relieved that they at least seem to be in the same state of confusion if nothing else. "But you're straight," he says. Liam can feel the beginning of a headache coming on.

"No, I'm not," he says slowly. "I'm gay. Are you forgetting the part where I got off with you on Saturday night?"

Louis opens and closes his mouth a few times like a fish. "You were drunk," he says finally and Liam rolls his eyes in frustration.

"I'm gay. I like guys. Have you ever heard me talking about girls, you idiot? I was drunk but I really like you and I'd like to be your, well." 'Boyfriend' sounds like a stupid word and Liam loses his momentum all of a sudden, unsure of how exactly to finish that sentence.

"My well," Louis repeats, and his face lights up. "Do you mean boyfriend? Aaw, Liam, do you want to be my  _boyfwend_?" He pouts, sticking out his lower lip, and Liam wonders -- not for the first time -- how exactly he can be in love with such an idiot. (He doesn't say that, though. The 'love' word is possibly weirder than 'boyfriend' right now.)

"Yes," he says instead, sighing and trying to sound long-suffering (and really just sounding fond). "I would like to be your... boyfriend."

"Does this mean we can be married?" Louis says excitedly. "Do I -- hold on, I just have to tell the common room." He tries to scramble up on the table and Liam manages to pull him down by his ankle, laughing as Louis half falls, half slides into Liam's lap. It's stupid and ridiculous and most of the common room is actually looking at them right now, Louis waving at them regally from his spot in Liam's lap. 

"I don't half love you, Liam Payne," Louis says, teasing and sincere, all at once, and Liam's breath catches in his throat. Louis's looking at him like there's nowhere he'd rather be and Liam knows that he can just duck his head and kiss him if he wants to, and just knowing that he can is almost as good as actually doing it.

"Ey up, boys, vas happenin'?" Zayn says, sliding into the chair opposite them and one of the girls sat on the couches behind them calls out, "They're having a big gay love affair, Zayn!"

"That question was aimed at us!" Liam calls back, and she just laughs and sticks two fingers up. He glances back at Zayn, who looks almost as expectant as Louis, and says, "But actually, you know what? That sounds about right."

"We're married," Louis says, as though daring Liam to disagree, but Liam can't think of anything else he'd rather be.


End file.
